When they get to the part...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 4 Sep 1994 18:35:01 JST

where he's breaking her heart, it can always make me cry...

1. Listen to a song. Listen carefully!

2. Now, quickly write out the plot--what happened? Almost every song tells a story, at least by implication.

3. Back up and fill in the characters, background, etc. Bring it to life and add in whatever you think is needed to make a complete story out of it.

4. Write it up. If you can, try to give the same emotional slant(s) and push to the story, but don't worry if you don't follow the song exactly.

Simple? Kurosawa took "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" and made a very good movie called "The Yellow Handkerchief" out of it.

So, turn that radio (cd? whatever) on and write!

On The Road

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 11 Sep 1994 18:35:02 JST

Inspired by the sorting and tossing now going on...

1. Pick a character
2. Consider that this character is going on a trip. Like most of us, that means picking and choosing some odds and ends to travel with. So, start by listing what they travel with. Backpack? Carry-on? Steamer trunk? And what is inside?
3. Now, as a comedian pointed out, when the character arrives in a hotel (or other temporary residence), they put their "stuff" out. Almost a kind of territorial marking, like a dog marking out their area. So--write it up! Do they set out the family picture first, then put their socks away in the drawers? Or maybe unwrap all the hotel soap, glasses, and so on first? Just how does this reflect the character?

Take your character on a trip and find out a little more about them. Then tell your readers just how John washes his underwear every day in the hotel sink and dries it on the rod holding the shower curtain...

Or how Susan keeps a stash of cookies and candy bars in the drawer by the bed?

Does Kelly really shine his shoes with a hotel towel?

Changing Directions...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting: Sun, 18 Sep 1994 18:35:03 JST

1. Pick a character (you know, those funny people who are always doing things in your stories?)

[I always feel like a magician at this point. Pick a card, any card...]

2. Set them up with something they are intending to do. Keep it simple--they are going to lunch, getting ready to go home after work, setting out for work, maybe just settling down to watch the clothes spin in the dryer. Go ahead and write up this piece, if you want too.

[now put it back in the deck...and shuffle it...]

3. Slam-bam! An accident intrudes. Your choice as to how big or small--anything from slipping on the ice to having a jumbo jet land in the backyard. Fire, flood, car spin or crash, a kitty cat tail in the recliner, children's fingers in the car door, take your pick. (yes, Robyn, you can use the farther out ones if you want. A dead troll drops through the roof? Why not? Oh, I see, a witch was carrying him home to be lacquered, and he slipped. Sounds perfectly reasonable...)

[drop the deck on the floor! and put your foot on one card...]

4. Two parts--first, make us live through the shuddering moment of the accident. Give us that gulp in the back of the throat that says we just lost control of our life for a moment. Second, what happens next? Do they shiver and shake for a while, then go ahead with the original plan? Or do they turn around and give up on it? Do they suddenly decide to call their mother? In some ways, the follow-up changes in action can be more poignant than any of the immediate description--watching them suddenly and deliberately change their life in reaction to the accident...taking time out to learn troll taxidermy, putting in time as a volunteer for the ASPCA, even just taking a minute to hug little June and listen to her story...

[Let me pick up a card...yes, your card is right here...oh, that's not your card? well, what about the one under your foot? Aha! And that's the end of this trick...]

[oh, yeah. since most of the writing guidance says you can start with a coincidence, but should never ever put one in the middle of the story, you may want to start with the accident (in catastrophe res?) then flashback or backfill to tell us where the person was headed before laying out the changes. Personally, this feels like I'm rearranging the story just to meet the rules, but do it whichever way feels right to you.]

As always, write it up, polish nicely, tie it in a little package and share it with your friends here on WRITERS.

Major Art Attack!!!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 16:29:46 EDT

(with thanks to Mark Kistler's Imagination Station and the New Hampshire Public TV network who sponsor this wild sketch artist -- thumbs up for ART!)

Experimentation--(snooty dictionary reading voice, pah-leese!)

"to establish a hypothesis and conduct trials or tests to establish the truth or falseness of the theory which produced the hypothesis..."

(return to normal slothfulness...:-)

look around, try it out, and learn! analyze what's happening (put your hand on your chin and think deep thoughts) then try it! see what happens!

so...

1. take a story, poem, or other bit of writing.

2. look for the following elements in the structure.

• foreshortening (stuff in the background is shorter than stuff in the foreground, and stuff at an angle is twisted...)
• overlapping (stuff in the foreground hides some things in the background)
• size and placement (just where in the story does a person or action appear? how much of the story does it take up? balance?)
• shading, shadows, and light! lines (thickness, peek-a-boo, and borders) are fine, but SHADOW and LIGHT make the depth. Analyze your light--where is the sun? the blackest shadows, the depth of night, are those points away from the light. and don't forget the lighter shades of grey and faded colors washed out in the light...

[BONUS!!! sound effects--does this story have zap-bam-pow? or maybe the William Tell Overture (known to most Americans as the Lone Ranger Theme)? do your shoulders move, mouth hum along, fingers beat out that rhythm? don't be afraid to let your whole body tell the story...]

Last, but definitely not least, every day let yourself have a major ART attack. Run wild with that sketch, that plot outline, those rhymes and dissonances, whatever turns you on... and let that feed back into your more disciplined work.

Incidentally, Mark Kistler mentioned the 12 key words of the Renaissance. Being artistic, he didn't bother listing them, just tossed off the fact that there were 12. Wonder what they are...

[BTW--those of you who want to complain that I'm using words and terms from drawing/painting as if they applied to writing...I sure am! complicate your paradigms, criss-cross and switch hit, and see what happens!]

(plato? plato? did you find the knibbles and bits I set out in a mobius bowl last night? why are you howling in the wind again? quiet, now, and let's go baldly where few hairs grow...a drop of elixir from the klein bottle for the introverted folk:-)

Hansel and Gretel

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting: Sun, 9 Oct 1994 23:36:55 EDT

You remember the kiddy tale?

Brother and sister, out of the house, into the woods, and wow!

Gingerbread house, bad old witch pretending there are better goodies inside, and eventually trying to pop the kids into the oven?

(okay, so maybe I've got the wrong kids in the story. I doubt they're going to sue me for libel...)

Anyway, a fairly simple story of temptation and greed, intended to provide a horrible example of what can happen if you (yes YOU!) dare to go wandering out in the woods trusting weird little witches and other hobgoblins of the outer forests...

So...

1. Pick a fairy tale (Hansel and Gretel do spring to mind...)

2. REVISE... very few kids now need to be warned about getting lost in the woods or strange hermits and witches living by themselves. On the other hand, there are some rather odd trolls and other visitors hanging around street corners and other locales. Gingerbread... I'll bet parents wish that was the worst threat to health that the kids faced.

3. Write it up! The Bubblegum Gang meets the Man who Lives in a Trashcan? Why not?

and away the tapping fingers write...

Let Your Ideas Flow...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 20:17:11 EDT

Okay. A bit different. Stand back, and I'm going to roll up my sleeves and tackle going from idea to story...

Mike (another one, not me) said

my wife works with a woman who visits the dog pound every day. EVERYDAY. she visit all the dogs, talks with them, pets them. she is always on the lookout for potential dog owners or existing dog owners who might like a new or additional dog. as far as i can tell her life's work is matching mutts up with owners. as you might expect she ends up rescuing many of these animals from the euthanasia couch by using her home as a holding pen until a suitable owner is found.

in the context of this work, her persona is interesting: she is an alcoholic and she presents as a loose woman -- tight clothes, push up bras, platform shoes, heavy makeup, suggestive talk -- although married and, as far as i can tell, monogamous.

A while ago, I suggested (TECH: a pre-writing checklist) trying to answer the following questions before writing:

BACKGROUND

1. Where are we? (setting)
2. Who is involved? (characters, strengths, flaws)
3. Where are they headed? (goals, motives)
4. What stops or blocks them? (obstacle(s))
5. What are they going to do it? (plans to overcome problems)

STORY

6. What hook(s) or bait for the reader will I use? (where start)
    What story question do I pose for the reader?
7. What backfill is needed? (background that needs to be filled in)
8. What buildup do I want? (scenes)
9. What is the climax?
- how does the character change? (overcome weakness, etc.)
- how is the plot resolved? (overcome problems and achieve goals)
- what answer does the reader get to the story question?

HIGHER LEVEL

10. What purpose, moral, or theme am I writing about?

Okay? I keep a copy of this in my little notebook, and I really do use it (after I die on the first line or so, get wrapped in the beautiful words about the setting, or whatever...and find myself wondering "what happened?").

Try answering those questions. If you can, you probably have a story getting close to roll-out.

Unfortunately, I'm fresh out, and there's Mike's description, so...

Mike has described one character with a couple of traits. But we don't have any real conflict yet (well, she could have trouble with the dogs, or with an owner, but...) so let's push on that a bit...

What flaws does this character have? alcoholism. maybe the presentation stuff. now, can we come up with a situation that makes those flaws crack? (or at least creak a bit?)

[take one minute! list at least ten situations that cause alcoholism to be a problem, then ten that cause the presentation to be a problem. three seconds each...clocks ticking, don't stop, just write another down...]

take a deep breath!

now pick one situation out of those twenty!

trapped at home with a werewolf who was picked up on his night out...and is now changing back? and hubby is off somewhere?

(ooooh! weird..were...red!)

Or maybe you want to dredge her psyche?

why does she rescue these animals, with the time and effort it takes?

(poignant vignette--imagine some SPCA weenie asking her, and her very unselfconscious explanation that she was behind bars--from alcohol--but no one threatened to kill her, and that she thinks her friends should get the same protection that she had...?)

what about the mutt that no one will take? could be a very, very sentimental piece with her (and us) slowly falling in love with this absolutely grungy mutt (bad habits, etc.) and then the pain when an owner does turn up...

What does this woman want? Do a mad minute brainstorm on that? (set yourself a quota, then list ideas as fast as you can!)

Suppose we wanted to make her Cinderella? I mean, admittedly, she's got a marriage and her dogs, but... swapperoo? she's the prince, looking madly for the werewolf that took her out that one golden night?

ohoh--what happens to hubby when he realizes she's looking for that enchanted dog?

Could we use another character? What about a guy who decides to hit on her... and his slow realization (somehow) that she is a real person? Suppose the dogs rescue her from the peeper?

Or...

Presets--love triangles (maybe hubby is having a fling?)
Mystery--someone kills her? why? how?

Scan through Polti's list of plot elements--suppose she was

- victim of fortune (good or bad)
- involved in disaster
- abducted; eloped; runs away...
- hatred, rivalry, adultery, madness...
- dark secret?
- love blocked?
- ambition?
- revenge?

or something else from that list...

Okay...slow down and sort through the ideas. Try to make sure you've got a reasonably solid answer to each of the points in my pre-writing checklist, then start writing it up...

Oh. Outline? What's the start? What's the end? And then what are the major scenes moving from one to the next... I'm a keyword sketchy outliner, others are more detailed, do what works for you (and don't be surprised if it changes sometimes--a mystery may need more detailed planning for clues and so on than a mood piece...).

Make sure the protagonist or main character(s) loses or gets into more and better messes at the end of each scene, at least until the climax. Don't be nice to your characters--start with small irritations, escalate into major attacks, and build towards a real crisis...

hum. not a story yet, but perhaps some hints as to how I'd start moving from the initial idea towards a story.

Anyone else? Come on, come on, how do you get started?

Slow It Down...

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting: Sun, 23 Oct 1994 21:46:02 EDT

1. Write a paragraph. Your choice on characters, action, etc. but make sure something happens in the course of the paragraph (even just having one character get up and cross the room).

[100 words? no, shorter than that.]

2. Break it up. Take at least one part of the action and rewrite it into a "clue" or "foreshadowing" part. Then insert some other material in the middle--a flashback, perhaps another scene from another part of the action, a little description, some other stuff--and finish by rewriting the ending of the first action.

[go back in and slice it up, then put some stuffing in...]

3. Keep stretching that original action. You can add some blocks and difficulties, you can add more "filling," you can turn that original paragraph into a thin framework binding all the parts of a whole novel into chunks interrupting your character slowly walking across the room...

[and then get the pump out, put a funnel in and grind sausage into the casing to fill the little monster out, get on top and stomp more into the edges...]

Don't let the reader down. Slow down the action...unless it needs to be fast and heavy.

and sell a few more words, too!

Beat it!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting: Sun, 30 Oct 1994 23:24:07 EST

1. Take something real

2. Reduce it to movements (use beats, exageration, repetition, multiple copies to stylize it)

3. Make it unreal--put the movements in a different place, arrange them in a sequence, whatever it takes to make them yours!

4. Then make that arrangement pleasing to yourself. Add patterns, inversions, reversions, reflections, twists, and so forth...

AND THAT'S IT!

remember, even the simplest movements can become polished, graceful beauty.

or, how do you answer the question:

Do I dance in my sleep?

(with thanks to "Behind the Scenes"--a PBS segment that focused on choreographers in dance, fights, and other parts of the theater, and suggested that this sequence is one basis for their art.)

so write to the beat of a different drummer...
and we may dance all night!